Frictional Games Reveal SOMA Sales, Future Plans

Six months after the release of sci-fi horror game SOMA, developer Frictional Games have posted a blog update detailing the progress of the sci-fi horror game so far, and its plans for future releases.

SOMA, it turns out, has sold just over 250,000 units since its launch back in September 2015. The game wasn’t a roaring success; Frictional mentioned the particular success of Firewatch, which sold over 500,000 units in its first month, but with only 20-30 thousand sales to go before making back their investment, the developer is pleased with SOMA’s performance so far.

“SOMA is well on the way to becoming profitable after just 6 months, despite not being a runaway success. This makes us a lot less worried about making another game of similar scope.”

The blog post goes on to address SOMA’s modding community, which was decidedly quieter than the developer’s previous title Amnesia, which say 450 finished mods. SOMA was equipped with the ability to create custom stories, but despite modding tools appearing more powerful and varied (allegedly allowing the game to be transformed into a racer if desired), only five custom stories have been published.

As well as acknowledging changes in the horror genre since Amnesia’s release, and the contrasting popularity between the streamer-beloved title and SOMA, Frictional admitted that level creation and scripting is more complex in SOMA, requiring “more setup”, with “lacking reusable items”. The company acknowledge that these issues combined may have explained SOMA’s lack of modifications.

However, the game’s subnautical storyline has triggered one of the most varied debates amongst the gaming community. “I think the most surprising part of the player response is the depth in which SOMA’s story and subject matters have been discussed.” said Frictional Games Creative Director Thomas Grip, “(Story discussion) made us look at the story in ways we’d never thought about ourselves.”

The developer went on to say that it is currently working on two titles, and future releases will aim to focus on more specific genres, rather than blending two together, as SOMA did with sci-fi and horror.

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Charlie is a platforming romantic from England, that still speaks in a fashion that died with the Elizabethan era. Having been gaming since the days of Crash Bandicoot, he champions the Playstation, and is only a little bit embarassed that Super Mario Land keeps spelling his defeat.